Wednesday, September 08, 2021

You can find all sorts of odder stuff

At a monthly card show, I ended up grabbing a bunch of cards and maybe there was some buyer's remorse just as far as quantity goes - maybe I was glad I wasn't actually able to go to another show for the past couple of weekends just to take a break.

These weren't the centerpiece finds I built my keepers on - but the more the mini-collection stragglers and other and and ends to add into my collections somewhere.

1974 Topps Carlton Fisk #105 - is there something I'm missing here? I grabbed it because it's an old-school Hall of Fame catcher card with a play at the plate immediately looming.

However the vibrant colors​ looks just about 'washed out' where the card may have been 'bleached' out - maybe it's just the wonkiness of the printing process, but it doesn't quite look right to me.

The back of card looks OK where it still feels like a normal Topps card - maybe I'll see if I can pick up a copy with nicer colors on the front.
As far as mini-collections go, it's a game to occasionally hunt for images on the back of the card - I wouldn't be doing my doing my due dilligence if I ignored anything but that primary image.
Though he probably has a case for the Hall of Fame, Kevin Brown never was one of those warm and fuzzy guys where you build a fan favorite narrative around past what he did on the mound - still I stumbled upon a serial #'d card with Brown wearing a batting helmet, presumably where he was involved in a hitting situation as a pitcher, so I had make it a keeper.

I like the pop around the borders on the serial #'d 1998 Donruss Studio parallel of Shawn Estes - he's obviously not hitting, but it looks like is running the bases, so I count those as well with their own sub - subset within my pitchers hitting collection.

I grabbed a pair of cards featuring a couple of nondescript minor leaguers - I might as well spend a couple of dollars to make their novelty cards mine.
Because it's a Dufex finish insert, I thought the 1993 Score Select Roberto Alomar card with the George Brett 'star on star' cameo would pop - but the card I picked up may have been subject of the natural conditions, so the 'shiny' effect isn't as pronounced compared to something 'pack fresh.'

I grabbed a certified autograph card of Blake Taylor just because he is a So. Cal local guy - I may have at least a couple of his cards years ago as a Pittsburgh Pirates draft pick, but anything inked up is nice.

Even if he is more of a rank-and-file lefty reliever currently with the Houston Astros - he has made good on his promise to get to the big leagues and have some success.

I didn't know what to do when I stumbled upon a couple of minor league team issues of Jim Fregosi and his son - the elder Fregosi [R.I.P.] was probably the Angels first team star but was pictured here after his run as the Angels manager for 4 seasons through the late 1970s.

Considering more of an oddball, I figured to pick up the card as a building block - to see if I can add more mainstream, playing days cards of Fregosi as an Angel.

I guess I had to grab the card of the son as well and while there is an immediate 'bloodines' tie - I'll add the card of Jim Fregosi Jr. to count towards my local players collection instead.

I grabbed a card of Mel Allen, a notable broadcasting great who I remember mostly as the host of This Week in Baseball - a show I remember groaning about whenever I'd see it on Saturday mornings during the late 1980s, likely because I wasn't into baseball yet and it marked the end of Saturday-morning cartoon programming.

3 comments:

Fuji said...

Mel Allen's voice is easily the most recognizable (to me at least) in the history of baseball.

Bo said...

Looks like Fisk sat out in the sun for a long time.

Jon said...

Putting serial numbers on a broadcaster's card is an interesting gamble.